Monday, July 9, 2012

Week #3 Fun! :)

In addition to working hard over my last week at the Human Rights Council, I also am having a WONDERFUL time seeing everything Switzerland has to offer! :) Here are some pictures from last week!

A Creepy street performer! He looked at you if you paid him!

I was very upset about not being in the USA for the 4th of July but I ended up having a really fun night! I had a picnic with a bunch of UN interns (most from the USA but some not haha!) and then we wandered down to Lake Geneva! We were hoping to see some fireworks but unfortunately did not. However, we got some amazing pictures and had a ton of fun! :)

There was also an Opera taking place outside my Hostel on the 4th! This is the view from my window! We got to watch it for free :)

GIANT Chess Boards in the park!

View of the Sunset over Lake Geneva!

Picnic group on our rooftop terrace!

These lovely ladies live in my Hostel with me!

I had a great time on Thursday night because I had fondue (again)! SO yummy!! I am going to be so sad when I come back to the US and fondue is not standard on every menu! Then, I went to an intern event with a few girls from my Hostel! The Geneva intern community is amazing and it has been great to get to meet so many different people from all over the world! I have really enjoyed hearing everyone's different stories and think that getting to meet so many new people is definitely one of my favorite parts of being in Geneva!

On Friday night, I went to a free concert in a park by the lake! The singer's name was Alice Russell and I really enjoyed the concert! She reminded me a little bit of Adele but her music was much more upbeat and we had so much fun dancing! It amazes me how many free concerts and outdoor events there are in Geneva, it feels like there is ALWAYS something to do!

After the concert we walked to see the Jet d'Eau, a famous Geneva landmark, by night, it was beautiful!! I was amazed by the way that we were able to walk right out to it on the jetty that it is on!

Saturday was a CRAZY day for me! Myself and a few friends decided to climb the Saleve, a mountain right over the border of France that overlooks Geneva. At first I was very excited, but then I saw the mountain! I learned that we were going to be hiking all the way to the top of the mountain in the picture below (where the little tower is!). There were a few points when I wasn't sure if I was going to make it to the top, but I did and the views were INCREDIBLE! Seeing Geneva from the top of the mountain made me forget how hard it was to make it to the top, it was definitely worth it! :)

View from where we had lunch!

After climbing the mountain, we went to this cute little coffee shop for a snack! Everything in the shop was for sale, so you could drink your coffee at a table, and then buy it if you liked it haha! Then, to finish off our day, we went to the Patek Philippe Museum. Since Switzerland is famous for watches but I know that I DEFINITELY won't be buying a Swiss watch, I decided to look at them instead! Unfortunately I was not able to take pictures inside the museum so here is the website if you want to take a look at what I saw! (http://www.patekmuseum.com/) It was absolutely amazing to see how intricate some of the watches are, it is such an incredible form of art!

The inside of "Les enfants terribles" (The terrible infant!) the cafe where we had snack.

My week of fun finished off with a trip to Montreux (a town in Switzerland) on Sunday! The forecast predicted rain but we got lucky and had beautiful weather! We were able to visit a Castle and also the world famous Montreux Jazz festival! I found out both Pitbull and Bob Dylan have performed there this year which I thought was an interesting combination! It was an amazing day and I am so glad that we decided to chance it with the weather! :)

There were palm trees in Montreux!

Freddie Mercury and I!

The boat we took to the castle!

The view of Chateau de Chillon from the boat!

My travel group, India, Brooke and Zack! :)

This sketch of the Crucifixion was discovered in one of the rooms believed to be a prison cell. Some guess that it was drawn here in order to console prisoners who had been sentenced to death. It depicts St. Catherine, the patroness of dying, St. Christopher, who gives protection against death without confession, and St. Anthony, who is invoked against the fires of hell. The origin of the work is unknown. I thought this was a very interesting part of the castle tour, even though it was also very creepy to be in a prison cell.

The Chateau makes its own wine that can only be bought there!

I had no idea how big it was until I saw this model!

Lac Leman in Montreux.

A poster from the Montreux Jazz Festival!

The Canadian Jazz band that we watched for free!

Overall, I had an amazing week in Geneva and can't wait to see what my last week here will bring!